Is LinkedIn Preventing Students from Gaining Employment?

Is LinkedIn Preventing Students from Gaining Employment?

By Tim DaGiau, Intern

The uncertainty of how to attain a job now tends to be the dark cloud looming over many recent college graduates’ heads, but with a constantly and rapidly evolving online approach to applying, what is the most efficient method to pursue? For many, the answer seems simple: Linkedin. It has extensive reach and frequency. It’s user-friendly and it’s the largest professional network in the world. Seems like the obvious answer to discovering that unpublished dream job, right? Well, there’s typically a fallacy in that conjecture. It’s not a weakness on Linkedin’s part; it’s actually the user’s neglect.

Although a profile presents one with over 100 million potential connections, the regular pipe dream tends to be that all of these members will exert the effort to seek one out. Unfortunately, this assertion is far from the truth. While the website intends to promote the benefits associated with networking, many students often approach the program as an equivalent to placing a classified ad that employers will stumble upon and promptly reach out to. It is often the wandering belief on campuses nationally. Therefore, offering students the “correct” path to travel no longer entails mailing resume hard copies or doing tiring footwork; it may be simply: how many clicks of a mouse one is motivated to do.

So, with technology grasping the professional atmosphere universally, the dispute transitions to: is it more efficient to reach out to an employer, or to formulate a method that will entice employers to believe there is value in sifting through a sea of resumes? Until the answer is defined, one negative repercussion of Linkedin is consistently clear; it veils the fact that diligence remains the driving force behind discovering that dream job and attaining the interview.